Bull Mountain Land Alliance and Northern Plains Resource Council accuse the state of violating the Constitution by changing coal mine permits without public input. In their lawsuit, they point to more than 300 changes made to the permit for the Bull Mountains Mine in south central Montana since the early 2000s.
Attorney for the plaintiffs Barbara Chillcott says ranchers are struggling to maintain reliable access to water due to the mine’s shifting operations. She says they want their voices heard when those changes are permitted.
“This is a last resort,” Chillcott told MTPR in a phone interview. “My clients are really just kind of at the end of their rope. They’ve done everything they can to try to communicate with the agency and just haven’t really had a positive response or meaningful response.”
Chillcott says the Montana Department of Environmental Quality approves similar changes at mines around the state without public input.
The Bull Mountains Mine is owned and operated by Signal Peak Energy and is at the center of a yearslong legal battle over a major expansion of operations. The Trump administration this summer approved that expansion without releasing a long-awaited report on its potential environmental impact.
A spokesperson for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in an email said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
